The Incredible Shrinking Dib
by DanniB
Summary: the title says all... let the humor begin!
1. Another victory for earth

Once again I must tell you I don't own the rights to Zim... But I do own a hand made plushie that I made myself because I'm an obsessed fan-girl. Thank you Jhonen!!!! I love Zim and I love you for bringing him to this world!!!!  
  
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~THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING DIB~   
  
Broken bodies scattered the ground. Some still twitched lying face down on the pavement. The casualties of war, these children, had never seen such carnage on a dodge ball court before. Only two warriors remained standing, each with red rubber ball in hand, ready to fire their weapons at any given minute. A green face sneered evilly across the court to leering spectacled eyes. Dib held his ball tightly, waiting for the right moment to strike. They stood each other down, human and alien, both scanning for a weak spot in which to attack.   
  
With a quick agile toss, Zim heaved his sphere at Dib's head. Readily, Dib bent to the ground, the ball nearly grazing him, his own projectile still in hand. The human rolled over back to an upright position and regained his glare on Zim who was fetching another ball from his side of the field.   
  
"Your attempts to outlast me in this childish game are laughable Dib," Zim spat holding up another ball. "Soon red rubber victory will be mine!"   
  
"That's where you're wrong Zim!" Dib yelled back, "Man kind will prevail!"  
  
Zim snorted out a light chuckle before sending another ball flying. Dib somersaulted out of the way and scrambled to his feet still clutching his weapon. He was waiting for the right opportunity to fire, watching Zim rush for another ball. They paced each other running until Zim halted, reaching the last on his side of the court. He knew Dib was reluctant to toss any balls across the line so this ball had to count, the human had to be taken out.  
  
Shouting the Irken war cry, the mighty invader launched his last round of ammunition at his pale foe.  
  
This was the moment; leaping and throwing at the same time Dib fired his ball outwards at Zim. The green one saw it coming and hoped away. A sudden pain in his side filled him with dread. He hit the ground in a painful belly flop scraping himself the gravel. A red rubber ball bounced steadily next to his head until it calmed itself and rolled away. Lifting his head wearily Zim looked up at a shadow casting over him. A shadow with eyes that reflected the sunlight over head down upon him.  
  
"Another victory for earth." Dib smiled kicking Zim lightly with his foot to get him to sit up and better behold his defeat. Zim grunted, moving to upright himself, spitting out some gravel that had gotten into his mouth when he fell. He could still feel the sting of the enemy's ball in his side.   
  
"After a defeat like that sometimes I wonder if you're still a threat to man kind." Dib laughed, "What invader can't even win a stupid game of dodge ball?"  
  
"This game is not important Dib." Zim retorted, "Its outcome has no impact on my plans for this planet."   
  
Dib just sneered gazing down at his rival.  
  
"Face it Zim, no matter what you do, no matter what you plan, I'll always be there to stop you. And I always will because you're no match for a superior human being."  
  
Dib may have gloated longer but the school bell rang and being the nerd he was ran to get to class, still laughing at Zim's defeat.  
  
Zim wobbled to his feet, the laughter still thick in the air.  
  
"Laugh all you want now Dib," Zim hissed, "You won't be feeling so superior for long." He chuckled to himself, "No, you won't be feeling very big around me at all."  
  



	2. The assault

"Then they overthrew their king and beheaded him in the guillotine..." Miss Bitters stated with words that oozed with darkness. "The blood of royalty filled the streets as the lower class took over the parliament in a violent coup d'etat."  
  
Dib scribbled down notes as the teacher spoke. The margins of his notebook, a gallery of horrid images, each depicting Zim disemboweled, under scientific study. Gaz had once seen his notebook and claimed his obsession made him "weird", but Dib knew all his constant attention and focus was needed if he was ever to end Zim's threat once and for all. He was beaming with confidence; his current victory over the extra terrestrial during recess had him pumped with self-esteem. A dodge ball game today, who knew what would be next? A photo of him without his disguise tomorrow, an autopsy a week from now? Dib would stop this alien scum, he was sure of it.   
  
He smiled adding a new entry to his collection; Zim, his belly slashed open, alien goo flowing from the wound, Dib standing next to the green fiend holding an alien organ triumphantly above his head. He glanced over to the real thing on the opposite side of the classroom. The alien had his zipper-teeth gritted, most likely out of frustration from his defeat. Dib flashed a quick smile to further vex his foe. Zim caught his rival's grin out of the corner of his eye and retaliated with a smile of his own, vengeful and shining with hate. He held up a page from his own notebook and showed Dib that he too had been working with his artistic skills. A crudely drawn doodle of Dib laying face down on the ground, an Irken flag stabbed into his back. And Zim standing proudly over the human corpse.   
  
Zim put the paper down smiling, returning to his class work. Dib was discomforted by the picture but continued his schoolwork until the bell rang for the final time that day excusing all children from classes from another afternoon.  
  
The air was crisp and clear, barely a cloud in the sky to speak of. The perfect setting for a perfect day Dib thought to himself as he followed his classmates out the main doors. His march of victory was interrupted by a bright green roadblock. Zim stood in the center of the entrance staircase, arms folded, smirking.  
  
"Hello Dib." He sneered.   
  
"What do you want Zim?" Dib frowned.  
  
Zim looked up at the sky, its pristine blue and calming clearness was the perfect mask to the malice he had planned.  
  
"Nice day isn't it?" He asked "Too bad you won't be seeing days like these anymore."  
  
Dib took a step back, his eyes widening, the fear in them magnified by his glasses for Zim's pleasure.   
  
"What are you getting at Zim?" The boy asked getting himself ready for a defensive position.   
  
"I'm just saying that it's a nice day..." Zim answered as if it were nothing at all, but a menacing accent in his voice sent a chill down Dib's spine.   
  
"...A nice day..." The alien pulled an object from his utility pack, "...For REVENGE!"  
  
Dib gasped, could that be what it looked like? Zim held it up proudly as it shined in the sun, a narrow weapon with thin round edges. A gun that sparked at its tip as Zim gently tested the trigger to show Dib that it was real.  
  
"A laser!?" Dib shouted, "Is that a LASER?!"   
  
"Yes," Zim smiled with glee, "Like it? I whipped it up during lunch."  
  
"Well it is impressive you could make that so quickly..." the boy said, then suddenly realized to whom he was talking to. "Nuh! You brought a laser to school?! Are you crazy?!"   
  
"Yes," Zim stepped forward, giving Dib less room to run in. "Crazy like a cow!!"   
  
Dib raised an eyebrow,  
  
"Don't you mean crazy like a fox?"  
  
Zim's eyes bugged out,   
  
"Do not correct the mighty Zim!"  
  
A sharp yellow beam blasted from the tip of the laser at Dib's feet. The human jumped back and retreated into the school, Zim in quick pursuit, firing his weapon laughing like a mad man.  
  
Dib huffed heavy breath as he ran through the empty halls working an escape plan quickly through his mind. Zim was close behind firing hot beams at his head making any attempt to think difficult. He was forced to act on impulse. Fleeing as fast as he could, dodging laser fire as it whizzed past his head, Zim's laughter echoing off the surrounding brick.   
  
Spying an empty classroom he ducked in and shoved a desk in front of the door. He hunched down behind the teachers desk hoping Zim had overlooked his detour and was still running down the halls getting further away. A sudden bang against the door told him otherwise. Zim was trying to get in and nothing seemed to veer him.  
  
"No mere door can stop me Dib." Zim yelled slamming his body against the barricade. "Prepare for doom like the doomed earth monkey you are!"  
  
Dib glanced around the room for something to defend himself with. He found something better, an open window. He ran for it just as Zim burst through the door. He swung one leg up onto the heater to get up to the window. Hopefully squeezing through it wouldn't give Zim an opportunity to open fire.   
  
"Oh no you don't!" Zim exclaimed leaping into the air and landing directly in Dib's path. Shocked the human fell from the ledge onto his hindquarters with a thud. The tip of the laser was now aimed directly at his torso, Zim grinned evilly behind it, his finger twitching eagerly on the trigger. Dib gasped and crawled backwards on the cold tile floor trying to escape. He backed up into the teacher's desk and found he could go no further. Zim cackled with joy pulling the trigger, letting the bright blinding yellow beam charge out.  
  
Dib sat up in a last second attempt to run for it, only to be pinned back by a strong blast to the chest. His body tingled momentarily then went numb. As feeling returned to his extremities he slowly lifted his hand to his chest to test his new wound. Something wasn't right; he didn't feel any pain, or any kind of wound for that matter. He warily lowered his eyes, nothing, no blood, no seared flesh, nothing.   
  
"What kind of a weak laser was that?" He asked almost disappointed. "I mean, it didn't even burn a hole in my shirt."  
  
Zim looked at his gun, mouth agape. He eyed his foe unharmed, lowered his arms to his sides and let out a pitiful whimper.   
  
"I knew I should have used a plutonium core instead of that uranium one." He whined looking sadly down at his feet. "But I guess I'm just not smart enough to beat you."   
  
Dib couldn't believe his luck; he stood up and looked at Zim with surprise. The alien actually looked like he was about to cry.   
  
"Just go," the green one sobbed, "leave me alone to wallow in self pity."  
  
He covered his eyes with one arm and waved Dib out of the room. Confused but taking advantage of this moment to escape, Dib jumped to his feet and darted out of the classroom without even a second thought.   
  
Zim buried his face in his hands letting out tiny squeaks of sadness. As Dib's presents was no longer available, he spread his gloved fingers apart to peek. His eyes narrowed as his weeps transformed into a light chuckle, then a deep laughter until it was a full blast cackle heavy with villainy, madness and doom.   
  
  



	3. Shrinky Dinky Dib

It sat on the shelf, a surrogate representation of family togetherness. A solemn cookie jar. The cookies inside had been store bought but the fact that somebody had taken the time to put them in it gave the illusion of traditional homemade goodness. Although that image was partially ruined by the fact that the cookie jar was shaped like Professor Membrane's head. Commercialism at its best.   
  
Dib was finding some difficulty reaching the cookie jar today. It was always on the same shelf, same place neat and orderly, but for some reason he just couldn't seem to reach it.   
  
  
"Hey Gaz, did you move the cookie jar?' He turned to his sister who was sitting at the table gathering some stray papers.   
  
  
"No." She answered bluntly.  
  
Dib stood up on his tip toes and reaches again, the jar barely out of range from his fingertips.   
  
"Are you sure?" he asked again "It's further back then it usually is."  
  
  
"I didn't touch your stupid cookies." Gaz snarled back retrieving a bag of crunchy cheese puffs from the cupboard.   
  
With a sigh Dib pushed a chair over to the shelf and claimed the ceramic container. He took out two rather large cookies before joining his sister on the couch. She had the TV on loud as images flashed of cows and cars exploding in hideous fireballs. Her brother sat uncomfortably close to her, annoyingly munching his cookies, talking between bites.  
  
  
"I beat Zim in dodge ball during recess today." He said proudly, "I'm beginning to think he's starting to slip. Maybe being on the planet is too much for him." He crunched more cookie, "I can tell he's starting to get desperate."   
  
  
"Can you shut up?" Gaz interrupted, "My shows are on."  
  
Dib blinked at his sister, then looked at the TV, shining pictures of birds flying into jet plane engines. He took another bite of his cookie and looked back at Gaz. A look of confusion overlapped his face as he noticed something was different with her.  
  
"Hey Gaz, did you have a growth spurt or something?"  
  
  
She squinted at him tightening her fists.  
  
"No, shut up."  
  
"Really? You look taller."  
  
  
"Well I'm not, now be quiet or I'll have to tear your tongue out."  
  
Dib shifted in his seat; the cushions felt different. He looked around the room; everything was off, like someone had moved the furniture, but everything was in the place it always was. Still, he could feel a disturbance in the room.   
  
  
"Something... Isn't right." He jumped off the couch. "Does something seem not right to you Gaz?"  
  
  
"Yeah," she said "You're talking after I told you not to."   
  
"No, it's not that." He shook his head, "It's something else. Something I can't put my finger on. But I know something seems out of place."  
  
Gaz gritted her teeth and picked up the remote control. Pointing it at her brother's head she repeatedly pressed the "mute" button in a last ditch effort to stop his rambling.  
  
  
"...Something has my paranormalist instincts tingling." He continued despite Gaz's best efforts, "Do you have any idea what it could be?"  
  
  
"You really don't want to keep your tongue do you?" Gaz frowned tossing the crumpled empty bag of crispy cheese snacks at her brother's head.   
  
Rolling his eyes at her in frustration he bent down to pick up her trash, only to unexpectedly and painfully hit his head on the coffee table.  
  
  
"Ow! Since when was this table so high?" He lifted his aching head grumbling to himself.   
  
As he stood he felt a strange sinking feeling in his gut. At first he thought he had picked his head up too quickly but then noticed a familiarity to it. He had felt this feeling before today, a few times in fact, but had dismissed it as nothing. He looked around the room; everything seemed higher than it was a moment ago. His eyes darted to every piece of furniture and wall fixture. Why was everything higher up? Why did the couch seem bigger? Why did Gaz look taller?   
  
  
"Gaz," He stammered, "Do I look... shorter to you?"  
  
Gaz rolled her eyes and hopped off the couch. To Dib's shock and fear she was now at least two inches taller than him. She put her hand over her head, then moved it over his, then back to her own. She shrugged.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
He couldn't believe it, it was impossible, but it was happening.  
  
"Oh...my...lord!" he gasped, "I'm shrinking! Gaz! I'm SHRINKING!!"   
  
Gaz sat back on the couch, uncaring about the whole ordeal.  
  
"Maybe you'll shrink so small I won't have to hear you."  
  
  
Dib's heart leaped in his chest at the thought. He pulled on a handful of hair trying to make sense of the moment.   
  
  
"But how?! Nobody just shrinks!"   
  
"Can you go freak out somewhere else?" Gaz snarled, her sibling's bemoaning drowning out the sound of her beloved TV, "I'm trying to watch my shows and you're ruining it!"   
  
Dib paced frantically about the room, he had to find the cause of his sudden decrease in height before he was too small to do anything about it. He ran through in his head the events of the day. Something must be the cause of this. Then he remembered.   
  
  
"That laser of Zim's! It was a shrink ray all along. He tricked me! That jerk."   
  
Gaz grunted, her eye twitching. What about "shut up" didn't her brother understand?   
  
"Your tongue is so dog food."   
  
  
Dib clenched his fists; he knew what he had to do to fix this.   
  
  
"I have to go to Zim's and make him make me my normal size again!" He declared.  
  
Gaz flashed her eye on him,   
  
"You go do that."  
  
He ran out the door and into the street towards his enemy's base, leaving Gaz with her much wanted silence.  
  
_=_+_+_+_+=+=+=+=+  
  
  
Dib ran at his fastest pace, any wasted moment would turn against him. He couldn't tell at what rate he was shrinking, but any rate was bad and he knew it needed to be stopped. The distance to Zim's house was frighteningly longer the he had memorized. He sighed in relief while panting as he saw the morbid homestead of his alien foe. His mind set with determination, he ran up the walkway holding back the shock he was now nearly half the height of the gnomes.   
  
Shrunken fists pounded the door to the Irken fortress.   
  
"Zim! I know what you did to me!" Dib shouted "I demand you restore me to my normal size immediately!"   
  
No one answered the boy's bellowing, only making him more furious. He banged harder.  
  
"I know you're in there Zim! Come out here you piece of alien scum!"  
  
A moment of silence, the door then swung open slowly allowing Dib entry into the dark citadel. It looked abandoned, dark and empty, a still silence ominous yet magnetic. Dib cautiously entered and peered about for some form of alien life.  
  
"Zim?"  
  
The room remained deathly quiet until a mild creak filled the air. Dib swung around just as the front door slammed shut locking itself, sealing off the exit.  
  
"I knew you would come Dib." Said a mellow silhouette standing in the kitchen doorway. Zim leaned against the frame, arms smugly akimbo.  
  
"It was only a matter of time before you realized my true master plan."  
  
He walked slowly into better light, which gleamed off his magenta eyes. His smile was strong and wide as he bent his head to look at his foe.   
  
"Why are you doing this Zim? Why shrink me?" Dib demanded waving his fist in the air. Zim chuckled; seeing Dib like this was quiet funny. At this size waving his arms about he almost resembled GIR when the little robot was having a stupid fit.   
  
"Why?" Zim repeated, "You want to know why I'm shrinking you? It's mostly your fault you know, going around making false accusations about you being the superior to me. It was getting quiet annoying. /your little display during recess today was what drove me over the edge. I had to show you that I was the superior species. And I think I did that rather nicely. Now you can see that I am now far superior than you."   
  
  
"By shrinking me?" Dib cocked his brow. "How does shrinking me make you superior?"  
  
Zim paused them laughed to himself. Dib had no knowledge of the Irken idea of Heightocracy.   
  
"Of course," he chuckled "there's that whole culture thing you're completely unaware of." He straightened his voice and gazed deeper at his tiny nemesis, "But believe me, seeing you at this size makes me feel much more superior."  
  
"So you shrank me just so you could heal your ego?" Dib squinted, "That's so lame."  
  
Zim grunted frowning with displeasure.   
  
"That's only half the cause Dib. My plans are much larger then that."  
  
He took a step back and clapped his hands twice. Instantaneously four cubes dropped from the ceiling and landed around Dib. A trap. Dib broke into a run but found himself charging into a transparent purple wall closing in on him. He was captured, prisoner in a glowing box. He slammed and pounded the enclosure trying desperately to break free.  
  
"I planned on you coming here begging for me to reverse the reduction process, so I made a few arrangements in anticipation of your visit." Zim tapped on the force field wall gleefully.  
  
"Zim! Let me out of here now!" Dib shouted.   
  
"I don't think I'll be doing that." Zim smirked.   
  
"Fine you've proven your point." Dib caved, "You've won this round and I'm your prisoner. Now stop this shrinking thing!"   
  
Zim crossed his scrawny arms smiling devilishly.   
  
"No Dib, I won't be doing that either. Not only will I keep you as my captive but will also keep the pleasure of watching you shrink away into OBLIVION!!!!"  
  
Dib's heart froze as he let out a mournful cry, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
As a platform beneath them lowered slowly into the evil underground base the house was filled with a most bizarre duet of Zim's glorious laughter and Dib's horrid screams of fear.   
  
  



	4. The daring escape

He rammed his shoulder into the force field wall over and over until his arm felt raw and numb, but still there was no sign of the barricade weakening. Dib looked up again at Zim across the room, or rather only a few feet away considering his height. The alien was already plotting his newest plan to conquest the planet, wasting no time in opportunistic revelry. Dib took a deep breath and tried again. There was no way he would let Zim win, not while he was still alive. Sure he was the size of a large rat now but he was still alive. He rammed repeatedly grunting, looking for a weak point in the cage that held him.   
  
Zim's antennae perked up as Dib continuously used himself as a battering ram. He kept his eyes on his computer screens and smiled.  
  
"You can abuse yourself as much as you like," Zim smirked, "That force field is impenetrable." Dib continued despite Zim's words. The alien simply sighed with self- content. "With you no longer a problem to me, continuing my mission should be a breeze. The only thing I have to worry about now is where to build the giant statues of myself."  
  
Dib halted his battering momentarily.  
  
"Don't you think people are going to notice my being missing?" He asked rubbing his sore shoulder.   
  
Zim thought a moment.  
  
"Even if someone does care to notice your sudden absence they'll have no way to connect your disappearance with me." He turned back to his console, "Now I have a planet to destroy. You can go back to dislocating your arm or whatever."  
  
Dib looked the force field over again. He had tried punching, ramming, kicking, everything but the enclosure had no faults. Had Zim finally won? No, he would never allow it. He leaned his back to the purple wall gathering his thoughts. Sitting on the cold floor he felt his balance shift slightly accompanied with a light creaking sound. A sound a table or chair makes when being pushed along the floor. He got to his feet and pushed against the wall. To his surprise it moved, the entire cage had shifted along the ground. It wasn't fastened down to anything and was light as a feather. Dib was elated, even at his size he could easily lift the cage and crawl out underneath it. Zim wasn't paying attention, now was the right moment.  
  
He ran to a corner of the cage and gripped the cube that helped generate his enclosure. The groves and exposed wires on its surface made for good finger holds as he lifted it gently off the ground. As he expected the force field lifted along with it. With a heave the human tossed the cube over his head toppling the entire structure onto its side.   
  
Zim could hear Dib's tiny grunts again. He laughed to himself.   
  
"I told you Dib, the force field is too strong. Any attempt to escape will end in failure..."He glanced over just in time to see his force field cage come crashing to its side and dissipating back to its original four cubes as Dib made a run for freedom.  
  
"YEEAAH!" Zim shrieked seeing his prisoner escaping.  
  
He gave chase, determined to make Dib pay for his resistance. But at his size dib was hard to locate.  
  
Dib ducked behind a piece of alien technology and his in the shadows of it. As soon as he had gotten free Zim took notice and was already after him and he had no want to face off with the now relatively gargantuan invader.  
  
"Where are you hiding Dib?" Zim demanded, "Come back here right now!"  
  
"No!" Dib called from his hiding place.  
  
Zim moved slowly, scanning his lab carefully for Dib. He peered behind a consol and spotted the human huddled by its wires.  
  
"There you are!" He announced.   
  
Dib gasped narrowly leaping away from Zim's advancing hand swooping down to grab him.  
  
"Stand still human." Zim growled trying to grip the shrunken one.   
  
Dib hesitated then stomped his boot down on Zim's finger. The alien yelped and reeled back his hand sucking his damaged digit tenderly. Dib laughed at this.  
  
"Your resistance will only make things worse Dib." Zim snarled over Dib's laughter. "Now come here and face your doom." He stood up to loom over his adversary.   
  
"I'm not giving into you Zim." Dib said defiantly, "You may as well bring me back to my normal height."  
  
"Or else what?" Zim smirked, "You're going to bite my ankles?"  
  
"Bite your ankles?" dib frowned in disgust. "No way, who knows what you bathe in."  
  
Zim stuck out his lower lip with distain. Dib had no right to insult his personal grooming habits.  
  
"Insult me all you want mini-Dib, you're in no position to be making demands. The very thought of you at this stature trying to stop me is laughable." And just to prove his point the green one began to giggle wickedly.  
  
Seeing him momentarily distracted Dib took this moment to attack. He didn't know what results he would get but it was better then nothing. He ran to Zim shouting out his best battle cry and scuttled up his leg.  
  
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-  
Zim laughed heartily at the thought of the pint sized Dib trying to harm him. Suddenly he felt something crawl up his leg and creep into his uniform. He squealed and shrieked as it moved about beneath his garment. He flailed his arms trying to get it out, grabbing at it and smacking his hands against his body as the intruding bulge tickled and pinched against his sensitive skin.  
  
Dib crawled about blindly inside Zim's clothes. Gripping the dark undergarment beneath the red dress he scurried around trying to avoid the gripping hands aiming to get him. He could hear the loud yelps of discomfort through the fabric as he made his way to the nearest way out. Zim pulled the collar of his uniform just as Dib popped his head out. The two met eyes and screamed. Dib picked up some footing and jumped from Zim's clothes landing with his usual graceful clumsiness and waited for Zim's reaction.  
  
Zim caught his breath feeling very violated. That human had been in places no human had the right to be on an Irken body. He stood over Dib, eyes glinting with anger.  
  
"You asked for this Dib, now you'll have to be crushed by the crushing boot of Zim."  
  
Dib dropped his smile and his jaw as the dark shadow overcame him. He made mad dash narrowly escaping being squashed by Zim's fearful stomp. Zim lifted his foot for a second try. Dib ran quickly to avoid the squishing death. Zim looked under his boot to see if he was successful. The lack of Dib on the bottom of his shoe indicated failure. He spied the little human scampering across the floor, grunted and gave chase.  
  
Dib panted trying his best to outrun the giant Zim pursuing him. The alien lunged for him aiming to clutch with massive black mitts. Dib jumped ahead as the ground shook beneath him, the impact of Zim hitting the ground.   
  
Zim groaned seeing Dib flee from his fallen body. He quickly got to his feet and gave chase again.  
  
Dib couldn't decide if this experience was more like a "Tom and Jerry" cartoon or a nightmare as he looked around for some escape. The extraterrestrial equipment toward over him like skyscrapers, lost in an unfamiliar city with a monster alien chasing him. Zim dropped to his knees and tried to smash Dib with his fist. Dib slipped past the enemy hand and dashed behind a thick wire laying on the ground.   
  
"There has to be a way I can get away from him." He told himself, "I'm not going to let myself get squished by Zim." The room suddenly shifted upwards. Dib gasped, "and I'm still shrinking."  
  
-=-=-=-=-=-  
  
Zim peered around the room, Dib had to be here somewhere. The little pest's stench was still lingering in the air.   
  
"You're only delaying the doom Dib." He called out to the human now slinking his way behind the wire. "You could consider me doing you a favor squishing you now instead of leaving you to face the horrible dangers of the microscopic world."  
  
Zim continued searching the contours of his lab, eyes wide, antennae perked, ready to hear or see any signs of movement from a certain dinky human. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed a mouse-sized figure creeping up an electrical conduit leading to a lab table.  
  
"Ah ha!"   
  
Dib turned his head at the shout only to see Zim heading towards him. He leaped up onto the table and ran around a gauntlet of tools and equipment in order to escape the wary Zim.  
  
Pushing his equipment aside violently with his arm Zim cleared his sights for a perfect glare at Dib. Dib froze, caught in the vision of two giant ruby eyes looming over him. A devilish, childish smile curling green lips.  
  
"Smashy, smashy!" A playfully evil tone smirked as a fist came crashing down.  
  
Dib rolled from its impact and darted across the table in the opposite direction. An arm stretched down in his path. Before he could turn again two colossal hands tightened around his body and lifted him off the ground.  
  
Zim joyfully gripped his prize, clutching the miniaturized human closely watching him squirm between his fingers.  
  
"Ha! Got you now Dib." He smiled following up with maniacal laughter.  
  
  
Dib faded to panic; he writhed, wriggled, wiggled, pulled and pushed against his captor's grip. He kicked and slammed the fists that held him. Seeing this was giving him no results he quickly thought of an alternative. It wasn't pleasant but it was the best he could come up with. With a gulp and a gasp he opened wide and sank his teeth into Zim's hand hoping he could at least penetrate the glove.   
  
  
Success! Zim let out a holler of pain releasing his grip. Using some quick gymnastics Dib grabbed hold of Zim's arm so he wouldn't fall to the ground and ran up it speedily.  
  
"You bit me!" Zim screeched "You bit me with your filthy human germy mouth of filth!"  
  
Dib leapt from Zim's shoulder and snatched hold of one of his antennae. Zim make some high- pitched noises that Dib assumed were the noises aliens made when they were in pain seeing as how he now was hanging from Zim's antenna twisting and pinching it in his hands.  
  
"Gah! Stop! Ow!" The alien squealed swatting at Dib to remove the offending pest.  
  
Dib felt something hit him across the back with a powerful blow. Its strength knocked him off Zim's feelers and sent him plummeting to the ground. As he regained his composure Zim was once again lifting his leg to attack.   
  
"I will take great pleasure squashing your Dib-guts under my heal!"  
  
Dib groaned and started running again. He was starting to get tired and did know how much longer he could keep this up. A morbid game of cat and mouse taking place in an alien's home turf. Things weren't looking to well in his favor. He spotted what looked like a hole in one of the machines. Without second thought he ducked in and waited for Zim to pass. The alien rushed by without noticing, now stomping blindly in a rage, not even realizing his quarry had vanished.   
  
Dib ran out of the hole in the opposing direction Zim was facing. As long as Zim was distracted by his anger, all the boy had to do was find a way out of the lab and a way to quickly get home. Perhaps he could get his father to reverse the shrinking process. But first he needed to escape  
  
Dib glanced back; Zim was still stomping any shadow that moved on the other end of the room. Dib laughed a little now feeling better seeing his adversary act like such a fool.   
  
Suddenly something hard and solid hit his face and chest. He fell back getting full view of the large pale sliver gray robot standing before him. It looked down upon him with smiling cyan eyes and bent its head to get a better look at Dib who was slowly crawling backwards to get away from it.  
  
GIR had gone down to the lab to see if his master wanted to play, but now it seemed he had found something else to play with. Something small with a black coat, and little glasses, and spiky hair. He kneeled forwards telescoping his eyes with intrigue.   
  
"Oooohhh...." He drawled, "Hellooooooo....?"  
  
Dib gasped in horror as GIR's hand grasped him around the waist as the robot let out a happy giggle.  
  



	5. Gir's new toy and a call to Gaz

Dib shivered fearfully in GIR's grasp praying the robot wouldn't give him to Zim.  
  
"Put me down!" He pleaded.  
  
GIR smiled letting his tongue wag out.  
  
"You're funny looking! Wanna be my pet?"  
  
Dib scowled,  
  
"No, I do not want to be your pet. I want to get out of here."  
  
GIR stared blankly at Dib for a second, then smiled.  
  
"I got a better idea, WEEHOOOOOO!!"  
  
With a sudden jolt Dib found himself tossed into the air. He screamed as the ground rapidly approached. Only a few inches from an impact that could very well make him a Dib- pancake he was saved by GIR grabbing his leg, letting him dangle in the metal claw with his coat over his head.  
  
"Please put me down." He groaned.  
  
GIR ignored his whimpers and flipped the boy over holding him gently around the wrists.   
  
"Hey what are you doing? Let go of me!" Dib cried as GIR lifted his arms up and down as if his were some kind of doll.  
  
"Do the monkey dance!" The robot chirped moving Dib's resistant limbs in dance like motions. "Now cabbage patch. Funky dude funky dude."  
  
"Cut it out!" Dib insisted.  
  
GIR stopped suddenly, he lifted Dib up again from under his arm pits and frowned.  
  
"Aww, I thought everyone liked dancing."  
  
  
"Well I don't feel like dancing right now..."   
  
  
"You can't hide forever Dib," Zim called from the other side of the room, "I'll step on you sooner or later!"  
  
Dib froze, it sounded like Zim was headed his way.  
  
"Oh no," he gasped "Zim's coming! I have to hide!"  
  
  
GIR's eyes lit up with joy.  
  
"I love hide and seek!"  
  
Dib smiled, an idea forming in his head.  
  
"You do? Do you want to help me play?"  
  
"Yes!" GIR grinned.  
  
"Then find me a place where I can hide from Zim."  
  
GIR widened his mouth with the biggest smile possible.  
  
"I know a great place!" He sang lifting Dib upwards. His head opened up revealing all the circuits and empty space inside as he held Dib over his vacant cranium.  
  
"Wait what are you...?  
  
Before he could finish asking Dib found himself dropping into GIR's head and landing on the hard insides.  
  
GIR closed his metal skull and rattled it around whooping,   
  
"EEEHEEEHEEE!!" As he gave his head a few swift punches.   
  
Inside the robot shell Dib tumbled about sliding from side to side.  
  
"Stop that!" He demanded as a stuffed toy moose fell on him.  
  
GIR shrugged and stopped then ran off to find something else to do.   
  
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^^*^*^*^  
  
"This can't get any worse." Dib moaned pushing the toy moose off his back. The room still swayed as GIR skipped around the lab. The boy could hear the tin can singing a little song as it moved about. He stumbled backwards on some circuits falling back on the moose producing a tiny squeak. Dib looked around, the circuits surrounding him an idea.  
  
"Say I can use Zim's robot to my advantage. Lucky for me I have my laptop with me...or am I lucky that it's shrinking with me?" He shrugged and hooked his portable computer into a nearby conduit and began hacking. Within moments static appeared on the screen and faded to focus.  
  
"It worked!" He smiled "Now I can see what ever GIR sees...yah!" Dib fell back surprised by the sudden clear view of Zim's rear end that appeared on his computer screen.  
  
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^  
  
Zim was crawling around on all fours with a magnifying device in one hand scanning for is missing foe. A tiny giggle behind him signified he was not alone.  
  
"GIR!" he shouted "Stop staring at my buttocks and stay out of my way. I'm looking for something." He leaned back down and continued searching. GIR jumped up and landed on Zim's back gripping his antennae like reigns.  
  
"Gimme a piggy back ride!"   
  
Zim bucked backwards, knocking GIR off his back. Inside the robot Dib tumbled across the circuits.   
  
"GIR please leave me alone." Zim yelled "you can bother me after I've smushed Dib into human paste."  
  
Dib shuddered at the thought of "human paste" as he reclaimed steadiness. GIR skipped off ignoring Zim's frustration and seeming to have forgotten about Dib in his head. After they were a safe distance away from the alien Dib decided to start phase two of his plan.  
  
"Hey GIR." He called.  
  
GIR heard a voice echo in his head.  
  
"Yes?" he paused, antenna sticking straight up.  
  
"See that console over there?" dib asked "the one with the round dish thingy sticking out of it?"   
  
"I once put coleslaw in that dish." GIR smiled.  
  
Dib rolled his eyes,  
  
"Uh yeah, look, can you take me over there?"  
  
"Ok voice in my head!" GIR squeaked and began skipping over to the console singing "Do de do do do."  
  
"Good robot." Dib praised. "Now there should be a connection wire somewhere around here."  
  
GIR stared ahead blankly pulling on his tongue.  
  
"Are you looking for it?"  
  
"Looking for what?"  
  
Dib sighed,  
  
"The connection wire."  
  
"Oh that." GIR looked around and picked up a skinny wire off the ground. "Here yah go." He fed the wire into his head. Dib grabbed it and plugged it into the robot's circuits. Using GIR as an adapter he could use his laptop to access the telecommunications console.  
  
"Alright!" He rejoiced "It's working! Please Gaz, still be watching TV."  
  
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^  
  
She was. And she was enjoying it. The sights and sounds of dancing midgets prancing around mud wrestling pigs. It had been an hour since her brother had left the house, not that she cared. She was relaxing on the couch watching her shows without any distractions.   
  
Just as one of the mud pigs had taken a bite out of one of the midgets the picture suddenly failed, breaking away to static. She growled throwing herself off the couch. The remote control wasn't working; every channel was bringing her interference. She knocked the side of the television cautiously with her fist, no response. She slammed it harshly, still nothing. She punched it violently, just static lingering, mocking her.  
  
"What's wrong with this thing?" She snarled.  
  
"Gaz!" A voice shouted behind the static. A familiar voice. A voice Gaz didn't want to hear.  
  
"Dib?" She raised an eyebrow "What did you do to the TV?"  
  
Dib's face fuzzed in and out of focus amid the buzzing snow as he spoke.  
  
"I've been captured by Zim! I'm transmitting from inside his robot." Some static crackled through the picture, "You have to get here and rescue me."  
  
Gaz frowned, unhappy that her brother was now bossing her around.  
  
"Dib, I'm watching my shows. Put the TV back the way it was."  
  
"What was that Gaz?" Dib called over the static "This signal isn't very good. You need to come and get me." The room around him increased in size another square inch. "And hurry! I think my shrinking is getting worse." As he finished his sentence the toy moose once again fell on him.   
  
"My shows Dib, I want them back. Go away." Gaz snarled.   
  
The screen crackled fragmenting Dib's signal as he spoke.   
  
"I'm going to try to get Zim's robot to take me outside. Meet me there..."  
  
A light poured down on Dib as GIR's head suddenly opened up and his small metal hand reached in and picked Dib up by the collar of his coat.  
  
"Ollie ollie oxen free!" The robot shouted pulling Dib out of his head.  
  
Dib clung to his laptop trying to anchor himself to no avail. The wires snapped away from GIR's circuitry severing the connection between brother and sister.   
  
Back in the Membrane household sparks flew from Gaz's beloved TV. The sudden cut off had caused some kind of short circuit effect in the television. The picture went black. Grabbing the remote control Gaz pressed all the buttons waiting for some response but she was rewarded with nothing. She threw the remote to the ground snarling. All she wanted to do was watch her shows. Now because of Dib she couldn't and he had to pay dearly for this sin.  
  
"He will know the true meaning of pain." She growled stomping out the door.   
  
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^  
  
GIR plucked Dib from his head ready to play again despite the boy's protests.   
  
"Let's play house!" The robot squealed happily.   
  
"How about not?" Dib offered dreading GIR's definition of "house". He was now so small the robot could wrap one hand around his waist and do whatever he wanted to the human with the other. A metal finger poked his belly.  
  
"Gah! My kidney!" Dib cried.   
  
"Make a squeaky." GIR told him poking again.  
  
"Squee..." he moaned.   
  
The sound of GIR's giggles wafted through the lab and landed on the hearing organs of a certain irken.  
  
"I like you..." Zim could hear GIR claim. His attention perked, he wandered over to where his robot was.   
  
"GIR, who are you talking to?"  
  
Like a guilty child sneaking a cookie GIR his Dib behind his back.  
  
"No one." He smiled.  
  
"The what are you hiding?" Zim asked.  
  
"Nothing."  
  
"Could it me a certain human I've been looking for?"  
  
GIR looked around nervously.  
  
"Maybe."  
  
Dib struggled to get out of GIR's grip. If Zim caught him now he may never get home.  
  
"Hand him over GIR." Zim laid out his open palm before his robot.  
  
"Mmm...can't." GIR smiled quickly peeking behind his back.  
  
"And why not?" Zim asked, tapping his foot impatiently.  
  
"He's gone." GIR presented his empty hands.  
  
"Hmmm?!?" Zim's eyes nearly popped from their sockets spotting Dib scampering away behind GIR.  
  
His endless fervor had paid off. After all that squirming Dib had squeezed out of GIR's hands and was getting as far away from the playful robot as he could as fast as he could. But Zim had now seen him opening up a whole new set of possibilities for suffering.   
  
Using his spider legs for an extra boost Zim jumped over his runaway foe and landed directly in his path nearly squashing him in the process.   
  
"Fee fi foe fum," Zim smirked "I smell the stink of a filthy human!"   
  
Dib trembled in the shadow of the alien fiend creeping slowly after him. He turned to escape but GIR was right behind him smiling goofily. Taking a risk Dib sprinted through the space between GIR's legs. It seemed to work until a tug on his trench coat told him to postpone any celebration. Once again Dib found himself in the grips of Zim's robot slave.   
  
"You're silly." GIR chuckled holding Dib at eye level.  
  
"Good work GIR." Zim praised. "Now hand Dib over."  
  
GIR tucked Dib closely to his chest.  
  
"But we're not done playing yet." the little metal one said.  
  
"No GIR, no more playing. Give me Dib now."  
  
The infantile robot only hugged Dib closer, tears forming in his blue eyes.  
  
"But," he sniffled "I love him."  
  
Zim frowned with surprised eyes. He would not have tolerated this sort of resistance except that at that moment he was Dib's discomfort being hugged by GIR so tightly.  
  
"Can't... breathe..." the human choked.   
  
Zim smiled,  
  
"Well GIR, seeing as how you 'love' him, I guess it would be alright for you to keep him for the time being."  
  
GIR beamed,  
  
"YAY!"   
  
Dib frowned,  
  
"no..."   
  
"I'll be back at work figuring out a way to destroy the planet." Zim said sauntering back to his consoles.   
  
"Kay." GIR smiled. He turned back to Dib who was trying to pull himself free of the robot's hold. "I'm gonna play with your hair!"  
  
Dib squinted as a tin colored hand came down on his head and mussed up his spiky hair.   
  
"Hey stop that!" He protested.  
  
GIR continued running his hand over Dib's head, petting him like some kind of animal at a petting zoo. Giggling childishly GIR rubbed Dib's head over his face ignoring the boy's cried of pain and distress. Dib groaned wondering what the mechanical sadist had in mind for him next. He let out a pitiful whine as GIR lifted him to his open mouth.  
  
"Oh no..."  
  
Plunged into darkness, his head in a pitch damp chamber with a metal tongue licking his head. His body on the outside struggling to pull his cranium out from between metal lips clamped gently down on his neck. After a few seconds GIR finally pulled a now soggy headed boy out of his mouth. Dib gasped heavily, his hair frazzled and glasses askew.   
  
"Ugh, how can you have that much drool?" He asked drawing breath.  
  
"I like drool." GIR answered, "Now lets play airplane!" Dib was lifted high above the robot's head and spun around. GIR mimicked engine noises oblivious to Dib's on setting nausea.   
  
Zim was elated by the sounds of Dib's wailing under GIR's attention.   
  
"You know Dib," he said, "Anything GIR can do to you will be far less painful then when you shrink so small air molecules will be too big for you to breathe."  
  
Dib may have been upset by that remark but her was far too dizzy and suffering from bodily harm to hear it.  
  
"I'm gonna be sick." He moaned holding back a heave.   
  
"What do ya wanna do know?" GIR asked the tipsy Dib.   
  
"Go to the hospital?" The boy muttered.  
  
GIR stared blankly. Dib shook his head to regain his senses.  
  
"Uh, I mean, uh, I know a game we can play."  
  
"OOH!" GIR shouted excitedly, "What?"  
  
"It's a fun game, but you have to take me outside first."  
  
GIR paused a moment as if in thought.  
  
"OK!"  
  
As Zim remained distracted by his work he failed to notice his robot slave taking his mortal foe up the elevator and out of the lab.   
  
  
  



	6. Going home

Zim watched his screens closely deciding which seat of earthling power would be first to fall to his mighty Irken hand.   
  
"Hmm, should I start my evil take over in Washington or just blow up a bunch of world capitals all at once?" He asked himself aloud. "GIR, what do you think?"   
  
Silence.   
  
"GIR? GIR where are you? GIR!"   
  
Zim's voice echoed around the empty room. GIR was never this quiet in the lab, which meant he was long longer in the lab. The alien growled with frustration. "Computer, where is GIR?"   
  
"GIR is leaving the house." A droning mechanical voice responded from the walls.   
  
"What?!" Zim gasped. He looked up at a monitor. GIR was indeed walking out the front door. Zim jumped from his chair and headed to the elevator.   
  
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*   
  
GIT let the door close behind him as he walked out into the open air. Dib was balanced on his head holding his antenna to hang on.   
  
"We're here!" The robot squealed.   
  
"Perfect." Dib smiled "All I have to do now is wait for Gaz."   
  
"So what game are we gonna play?" GIR asked.   
  
"Game?" Dib almost forgot, GIR thought they came out here to play a game. He quickly thought of an answer. "We're going to play the... statue game."   
  
"How do we play that?"   
  
"Well, uh, we stand perfectly still until a pigeon lands on us. First person to move looses."   
  
"That sounds like fun!"   
  
GIR froze still, surprising Dib. He thought the robot didn't know the meaning of staying still.   
  
He couldn't see much from his perch atop GIR's head, but he knew Gaz had to be near. She had to be rushing to save him, that's what sisters do. But he hoped she'd hurry. He really couldn't stand getting any smaller.   
  
The front door slammed open with loud impact. Zim stood in the doorway adjusting his wig and scowling at GIR with angry lavender-gray eyes. He seethed seeing his robot standing there with Dib. Not only was GIR aiding Dib's possible escape, but he had once again left the house without his disguise on.   
  
"GIR! What do you think you're doing with Dib?" Zim asked loudly. "Don't you realize by taking him outside he could escape?" He walked in front of GIR who had failed to turn around at the sound of his master's voice. "GIR are you listening?"   
  
"Shhh... I'm waiting for pigeons." GIR hushed trying his best to talk without moving himself.   
  
Zim grunted,   
  
"GIR, I trusted you to make sure that Dib wouldn't escape the lab." He pointed at the human now cowering fearfully behind the robot's thin antenna, "And here you are bringing him outside."   
  
"We're playing a game." GIR answered still not moving.   
  
"This is not a game GIR," Zim corrected him, "This is our mission. You have to be more careful with your decisions."   
  
  
An unexpected chill filled the air. The clear sky suddenly grew cloudy and dark like a blanket of impending doom had just blocked out the sun. A small shadow stood behind Zim, her face sour, her eyes shooting flaming daggers.   
  
"Where's Dib?" Gaz asked, her voice heavy with anger.   
  
"Gaz!" Dib shouted happily "You came for me!"   
  
She glared at his shrunken but still too big for his body head. Even at the size of a pen cap he was annoying her.   
  
"What is the meaning of this?" Zim snarled, outraged by her presents.   
  
"I'm here for Dib." She stated "He has to come home and fix the TV so I can watch my shows!"   
  
"I care not for your little amusements." Zim huffed, "But if you are here for Dib you can't have him. He's my prisoner now."   
  
Gaz simply glared at him.   
  
"I'm missing my shows as we speak. If you could just let me have Dib and go home now it can save you from my wrath."   
  
"Your wrath?" Zim laughed "Ha! What kind of wrath can you have pitiful Dib-sister?"   
  
She clenched her fist sneering as if to open the gates of hell. The she spoke rather calmly.   
  
"You don't want to know."   
  
"Well if you want to rescue your brother so badly you will have to get through me first." The alien defined.   
  
"I don't have time to play with you." Gaz grumbled.   
  
"SILENCE!" he demanded ignoring her. "No one rescues a prisoner of Zim without facing ZIM!"   
  
She rolled her eyes as he took a fighting stance.   
  
"I am the master of many forms of hand to hand combat." He smiled confidently "You have been warned."   
  
  
With a furious cry he tossed a punch at her head. His fist stopped as it landed in her open palm. A look of surprise overcame him as her hand closed over his tightly until it hurt. He grunted forcefully trying to resist her pushing his arm away, his fingers numbing with pain. With her free hand she pushed into his shoulder and knocked him to the ground. His back hit the walk way hard. The crack heard could have either been the sidewalk or his spine but she didn't care. She had already turned around preparing to leave.   
  
Zim would not give up so easily; never to a human. He climbed back to his feet and took a running leap onto her back trying to haul her down.   
  
Gaz was not happy about the sudden presents of an alien on her back.   
  
"What are you doing?" she asked sighing.   
  
"No one dispatches ZIM!" He shouted "fight me so I can defeat you!"   
  
She raised her fist and smacked him in the face causing him to fall off. He ran into her legs trying to knock her down. She kicked him between the eyes. He pulled on her arm trying to flip her over. She grabbed his wrist and promptly tossed him over her shoulder. He nearly landed on Dib who had climbed off GIR to be a better spectator to the fight.   
  
"Hey watch it!" the boy shouted. "I'm still down here!"   
  
Zim got back up to his knees and dove again. Gaz took a step to the side allowing him to fall flat on his face.   
  
"Enough games" Zim growled getting back up. "You won't make a fool of this invader."   
  
He firmly grasped her shoulders in another attempt to attack. Gaz tightened her fingers into a ball.   
  
"I'm through wasting my time." She said.   
  
Zim squeaked letting some spittle fly past his lips. His squeedily- spootch throbbed with incredible pain. Gaz smirked removing her fist from his abdomen and watched him collapse to the ground wheezing heavily.   
  
Dib danced about happily at the alien's defeat.   
  
"You did it Gaz, you beat up Zim!"   
  
She stood over her brother casting a large shadow over him.   
  
"We're going home now." She stated leaning over to get a better look at him. He had wasted quiet a bit of her time, which tempted her to consider crushing his shrunken head between her thumb and forefinger, a notion that must have passed through Zim's mind as well. She gently pinched his hair and lifted him off the ground. She ignored his obvious discomfort as she hoisted him by his locks and dropped him abruptly into her pocket.   
  
With all the minor priorities taken care of she decided now was time to go home and take care of the important business... getting the TV fixed.   
  
*^*^*^*^*^*^   
  
Zim laid curled up on the sidewalk clutching his belly, whimpering in pain and defeat. Before him GIR remained standing still, statuesque, frozen. A shadow fluttered down from above as Zim uncurled himself and sprawled out on the pavement moaning. A pigeon landed on his chest and pecked about cooing. So consumed with pain was he that he couldn't even lift his arms to shoo it away. GIR turned to him eyeing the bird then smiled exclaiming,   
  
"You win!"   
  
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*   
  
Their father's lab was off limits when he wasn't home but the siblings believed they could make an exception to the rules considering it was an emergency. For Dib, he was shrinking into nothing. For Gaz, she was missing "Zombie fest."   
  
"Are we there yet Gaz?" said Dib's tiny voice from her pocket. "Are we? Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh?"   
  
Gaz gritted her teeth, although his voice was small she could still hear it faintly and faintly was still too loud. She dug into her pocket and let him crawl onto her fingers. She lifted her hand up to see him closer. Now the size of a large bug and just as annoying, he sat in her palm as she slowly lowered it down on the lab table. He hopped off landing among the beakers and test tubes.   
  
"So now what?" She asked looking at his funny head through a magnifying glass.   
  
"You know dad's organic macro ray? The one he made to use on plants to end world hunger?"   
  
"Yeah." She said apathetically.   
  
"I think it might work on me."   
  
Gaz snarled; all the time wasted running around with Zim when the solution to Dib's problem was right here.   
  
"Why didn't you think of that before?" She grunted.   
  
"You know, the thought never even crossed my mind." He smiled meekly.   
  
She frowned holding the magnifying glass closer to the light causing a hot beam to shoot down at him. He leapt out of the way quickly and recovered from the shock.   
  
"Hey watch it Gaz, you nearly fried me!"   
  
"Whatever." She walked over to a table where a laser like device was perched. She positioned the ray pointing it at her brother. After pushing a few buttons the machine began to drone, a bulb at it's end glowing brightly. "You might want to cover your eyes."   
  
The blinding light halted his vision momentarily as a strong tingling sensation filled his body. He began growing at an incredible rate pushing some equipment off the table in the process until he was his perfect original height once again.   
  
"It worked!" he shouted elated "I'm my normal size again! I don't have to worry about getting stepped on anymore! I'm normal again! OW!" Gaz had grabbed his now normal sized ear and began pulling him out of the lab.   
  
"You have to fix the TV now!" she demanded hauling him up the stairs and into the living room.   
  
"OK, ok, cut that out. I'll fix the TV." Dib complied.   
  
Gaz released his ear, shoved a toolbox into his arms, and left to get a soda from the kitchen.   
  
He looked the television over. It looked like an internal problem, most likely with the satellite connection. He opened the toolbox and fumbled with a few of the tools. They seemed rather small for the job. In fact the box itself seemed small. He still felt tingly from the growth ray. Shouldn't that feeling have passed by now? He filled with dread realizing what was happening.   
  
"Uh, Gaz...!"   
  
Before he could react the room had closed in on him.   
  
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*   
  
A man walking his dog across the street was the only witness when the house collapsed. Dib sat amongst the rubble; a couch and coffee table crushed under his leg, his foot through a wall, some bits of ceiling stuck in his hair. Gaz glared up at him from a spot between his legs where the kitchen had just been. He smiled nervously down at her.   
  
"Uh, heh heh, I think we have a little problem." He said.   
  
THE END


End file.
